Ukrainian oligarch's wife speaks out after bomb attack in Monaco - revealing she is not the woman injured in blast

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A manhunt is underway to identify and find the suspect who planted the "parcel bomb" inside the lobby of a building on Rue du Révérend Père Louis Frolla. 

French and Ukrainian media said the target of the attack was Vadym Yermolaiev, 56, who was once a real estate developer in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

He left Ukraine several years ago, renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a citizen of Cyprus.

Reports first suggested that his wife Anna, 56, was caught in the explosion.

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However, Ms Yermolaiev has spoken out, and confirmed she was in fact in another location at the time of the explosion that took place at around 9pm on Monday.

Speaking to Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, she said: "We are currently in a state of severe stress and are actively cooperating with the investigation and law enforcement agencies."

Another woman who was injured in the blast has reportedly had her legs amputated. The unknown woman had her 13-year-old son with her, who was rushed to hospital but remains "stable".

French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the child was thrown nearly 50ft by the force of the explosion, and his mother may have become injured while trying to protect him.

Mr Yermolaiev was placed under Ukrainian sanctions in December 2023, which Ukrainian media say was for doing business in Russian-occupied Crimea. In an interview with Ukrainian media RBC-Ukraine in 2024, Yermolaiev denied that he owned or ran any business in Crimea.

Monaco police have opened an investigation into the attempted assassination as the prosecutor declared that an explosion that rocked the city on Monday evening was not a "terrorist attack".

"This is not an attack that can be described as terrorist," Monaco's public prosecutor Stéphane Thibault said in an update on Tuesday. He added that there are "three immediate victims... two of whom are in a state of absolute emergency".

A lone man presented himself in front of the address where he left a package, "in the process of being identified", shortly before the three occupants of the ground floor apartment showed up at the door and the explosion.

The suspect is believed to have fled to France, Christophe Mirmand, minister of state of Monaco, said on Tuesday.

CCTV shows the suspect fleeing towards the town of Beausoleil, just across the border in France.

Prosecutors said the backpack bomb contained bolts and buckshot.

The Monegasque government said the area was cordoned off and the six other unoccupied flats inside the building were secured.

“This is the first time in history, to my knowledge, that such an act has taken place in the principality,” Mr Mirmand said.

Le Figaro said video surveillance images showed a man dropping a backpack at the entrance of the residential building shortly before the explosion.

Four additional people were taken to Princess Grace Hospital, including two with cuts from windows that shattered and two others who needed treatment for shock, the Monegasque government said.

Prince Albert II, the principality’s monarch, condemned the explosion as a “heinous act” and “a shock to the entire Monegasque community”.

Praising the response of Monegasque and French emergency services, he added: “We trust in [the authorities] to quickly bring to light the circumstances of this tragedy, identify those responsible and provide all of the answers, at every level.

“More than ever, the principality of Monaco will remain united and determined in the face of violence and crime. The security of our community has always been a priority; it will remain that way more than ever, regardless of the threats.”

Eric Ciotti, the Right-wing mayor of nearby Nice, France, wrote ⁠on X: “The attack committed this evening is a ⁠tragedy for Monaco.”